Here and Now
by coffeemuse
Summary: Just a random story about the extending Castle/Beckett family. (Cover art by itisthedrawer.tumblr)
1. Chapter 1

It was a little after four in the afternoon when Kate slipped through the front door. Luckily it had been a slow day-nothing but paper work, really, so Gates let everyone go home early. Unfortunately, they were all on call, but that lamentable fact was quickly pushed to the back of her mind when she heard the small pitter patter of feet on the hard wood floor followed by giggling. As Kate stepped further into the loft she saw her daughter waddle-run her way around the beginning of the stair case and colliding with Kate's knees.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Her daughter squealed, clutching the loose fabric of Kate's pants in her small hands, jumping and down. Her dark blonde hair bobbed on the tops of her shoulders; the barrette that was holding her bangs back loosened causing a strands of hair to fall in the little girls face, and using both hands, she pushed her hair back eagerly.

"Mommy!" The little girl continued to bounce, and Kate scooped her up kissing her face all over.

"Hey, babe. How was your day home with daddy?" Ryleigh, who was just over two years old, grinned wickedly. Her eyebrows shot up as she giggled, "Nun!"

"Oh. Fun, huh? What'd you guys do?" Kate asked, setting the now squirming toddler on the floor.

"Pay!"

"You played all day? Well, aren't you lucky." Ryleigh gave her a toothy grin.

"Where's daddy?"

"Daaaaddddyyy!" The little girl squealed, bolting off towards Castle's office.

Kate approached the room noticing almost immediately that Castle wasn't in there. Ryleigh stood in the center of the room in front of his desk with her eyebrows bunched together. She looked back at Kate and pointed to his desk. "No dada?"

"Nope, looks like daddy isn't in here. Where else could he be?"

Ryleigh huffed, dashing out of the office and stood in the living room, looking around. "Daaaaadddy?"

Kate slowly trailed behind her daughter keeping her eyes peeled for her husband as well. She saw Castle out of the corner of her eye as he rounded the couch on his knees and crawled into the kitchen. She pressed her hand to her mouth to hide her grin as she watched him scramble to hide before his daughter could see him.

"Leigh? Where could daddy be?"

The toddler stood in between the two arm chairs in the center of the room, a look of concentration on her face. "Daddy?"

"Yeah, where's daddy? Let's find daddy!" Kate encouraged, leading the way now. Ryleigh teetered behind her, her excitement almost causing her to stumble and topple over.

Kate stood by the dinning room table glancing into the kitchen where Castle was crouched down behind the kitchen island. Ryleigh stopped beside her looking up at her mother for direction.

"Where could he be?" Kate asked animatedly as she brought her hands to her hips.

"Ryleigh," Castle whispered as he peeked his head around the table. Her little head turned quickly to where the sound was coming from and took off running just as she saw him disappear again.

Giggling and babbling happily, she rounded the corner and Castle scooped her up under his arm immediately causing the little girl to shriek and then fall into a fit of giggles as he blew raspberries on her belly.

"Darn, you found me. You're gonna be a detective just like mommy, huh?"

Kate rolled her eyes as she met him in the kitchen. "Don't give her any ideas."

She leaned into her husband and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ryleigh, who was now perched on her father's hip, jetted her arms out giving Kate the "grabby hands".

"Mommy, kith!"

"Oh, you want a kiss too?"

"Kith!"

Kate held out her arms and Ryleigh struggled against Castle to get to her. But he took a step back, swinging her away from Kate.

"No kissies! Only _I'm_ allowed to kiss mommy."

Their daughter growled and kicked her feet, kneeling Castle in the ribs. He let out a grunt, but continued to step away from Kate who was now taking steps toward him, grinning.

"Mommy!" Ryleigh cried, leaning out of Castle's arms to reach her mother.

"I know, daddy's being mean. Tell him I can share kisses!"

Ryleigh tried to use her mother's words but ended up babbling angrily at her father. He laughed, giving in and handing her over to Kate who gathered her up in her arms and planted loud sloppy, smacking kisses all over her face.

Ryleigh giggled, throwing her arms around Kate's neck and burrowing her face into her neck. She sighed contently and clung to her mother. Kate ran her hand softly up and down her back and felt her rub her little nose against her shoulder.

"Someone's wore out," Castle commented, stepping back into the kitchen.

Kate smiled. "Yeah, good. Won't be too hard to get her down tonight."

"Order in or cook?"

Kate scrunched her lips to the side in thought. "Order in? I could really go for some Chinese right about now."

"No, 'nese!" Ryleigh piped up, still cuddled into her mother's chest.

"Nope, no 'nese for you." Castle agreed, poking her in the side. She yelped out a laugh, squirming to get away from his intruding finger, accidentally kicking Kate in the stomach.

Kate flinched, the sudden movement startling her more than actually hurting her. Ryleigh froze in her mother's arms. The little girl pressed her hands into Kate's chest leaning back to look at her mother and frowned.

She squirmed in Kate's arms, shimmying her way to the floor.

"You're fine, baby girl, you just gotta be careful, remember?"

Ryleigh shook her head, her big green eyes peering up at her mother through wispy strands of hair.

"You okay?" Castle asked cautiously as she rubbed her prominently swollen belly. "Yeah, no big deal, just caught me off guard. We're tough cookies though, aren't we little man?"

"Of course you are. Castle's and Beckett's are undefeatable." He tossed his arm up in the air flexing his muscles for his wife.

She blinked up at him. "Yeah, well, hunger is about to defeat me soon if you don't feed me."

"Oh, right. I'll call in the order and you can make her something to eat? Get her in the bath afterwards and get her to bed a early tonight since she's going back to daycare tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Castle held his hand up for a high-five, and they slapped their hands together. Kate turned on her heel and called out for her daughter who was in the living room climbing into her tub full of toys.

"Come on, little one. You hungry?"

Ryleigh squealed happily as she ran past her mother and to her high-chair.

"I'll take that as a yes," Kate laughed as she lifted her up and locked her in the seat.

Kate handed her a wooden spoon to occupy her while she maneuvered around the kitchen, the wet smacking of her daughters lips as she happily baby-talked to herself was like music to her ears.

She glanced up to see Castle walking around aimlessly as he ordered their food. She couldn't help but smile. Even after three years of marriage, and two years of being a mom, it still caught her by surprise that this was her life. She has a husband that she loves so desperately, a daughter who she adores more than anyone ever, and now there was a new life growing inside of her. She often thought that this was all a dream and that one day she'd wake up cold and alone in her bed back in her old apartment. And maybe this is all a long lucid dream, but until she wakes up, she's going to enjoy the ride for as long as she can. Because this is where she wants to be. Forever.

* * *

Twitter: kateofthecastle


	2. Chapter 2

**So, a lot of you asked for this little nonsense story to go on, so, here we go...**

* * *

After bath time, Kate had no troubles putting their sleepy girl to bed. An excited, fun-filled day home with daddy clearly wore her out, and after putting her in her warm pajamas (fresh out of the dryer), Ryleigh crawled herself into bed and was out before her little head hit the pillow.

Kate kissed her daughter's forehead before standing to turn on the baby monitor. With her room being so far away from Kate and Castle's, they figured it best to continue to use one just in case.

Kate pulled Ryleigh's door closed behind her and wandered into her son's room. With her only being barely five months along, the nursery isn't quite done yet. It was only a about a week ago that they even found out the gender of their youngest. On one of the walls is a plethora of paint swatches tacked to the wall with different colored paint streaks next to it. Castle wants to stick more to the blue's and green's whereas Kate wants to do an earthy theme of more browns and tans.

The crib sits partially put together in the center of the room, and in the corner sits a rocking chair that Martha passed down to Kate when she was pregnant with Ryleigh. A small grin appears on her face remembering all of the nights she sat and rocked her little girl to sleep.

She sighed happily as she turned to exit the room, but was startled to find Castle grinning as he stood in the front of the door.

"Geeze, Castle. Don't you know not to to frighten a pregnant woman? How long have you been there?"

"Not long. Food's here." He told her, walking up to her, circling her arms around her waist.

"You okay?" He asked, tucking her head under his chin and pulling her closer to him.

"Mmm, yeah. I'm good. I know Ryleigh's not that old, but it feels like forever ago that she was just a baby, you know? I feel like I have a case of the new-mom jitters again."

"If it makes you feel any better, I feel like I have the new-dad jitters again. I have Alexis and Ry, but I'm getting a boy this time. It feels different. New. I'm not sure what to expect with a little boy. I think it's normal for us to be a little anxious."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She smiled into his chest before he stepped away from her, running his hand down her arm to take her hand in his. "C'mon, let's go eat."

* * *

"No."

"C'mon, Why not?"

"Castle, _no_. We are not naming our son Cosmo. Why are you so dead-set on naming him that?" She sat the beef lo mein noodle carton down and looked at him incredulously.

"Why are you so dead-set on _not _naming him that?" He shot back.

"Because, Castle. I will not aid in getting our kid bullied. What're you going to do if he comes home one day crying because kids are calling him Cosmopolitan, or some other ridiculous name?"

He stared at her for a second before shaking his head. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, so. How about James?"

Kate blinked, stopping mid-chew. "Like... after my dad?"

"Yeah."

"You'd really want to name him after my dad? Castle, that's so _sweet_!" She reached over and cupped the side of his face, smiling lovingly at him.

"But only if his middle name can be Cosmo, though." He grinned at her and she lightly smacked him in the face, rolling her eyes. She snorted out a laugh despite herself and turned her body away from him, planting both feet on the ground. "You're a mess," She told him, using the arm of the couch to help hoist herself up. She made her way into the kitchen to put the containers of left-overs in the fridge.

As she was walking back to the couch, she noticed Castle had the baby monitor to his ear.

"What's up?" She asked, leaning over the back of the couch to listen.

Castle turned the volume up and a shrieking cry filled the room. "Mommy!"

Kate took off for the stairs but was immediately stopped by Castle who had a hold of her upper arm. "I got her, I'll bring her down. I don't need you running up the stairs."

"Castle, I-"

"_Kate_."

She huffed out a breath and nodded her head. "Yeah, okay."

He took off up the stairs, taking two at a time. Castle came back down a few minutes later with a squirming Ryleigh trying to get out of his arms as she called for her mommy. He handed their daughter over to Kate and she quickly latched on and buried her face in Kate's neck, slightly whimpering.

"Hey, baby. What's wrong? You're okay. You're okay." Kate held her close, rocking her slowly back and forth.

Ryleigh rubbed her nose over Kate's collar bone, sniffling. She balled her fist up and Kate's hair panting, trying to catch her breath.

"This is the third time this week," Kate commented, rubbing her daughter's back. Ryleigh let out a few pitiful groans before Kate's rocking lulled her back to sleep.

Castle scrubbed his hands over his face. "I know. I looked into a few things online," He said, leading them into the living room to the couch. "It could be a number of things causing this, but the two that stick out the most are something happening at school, or an over-active imagination."

Kate huffed out a small laugh. "Wonder where she gets it from." Castle grunted at her.

"What in the world could be happening to her at school to make her have nightmares this horrible?" Kate pondered aloud, rubbing her daughter's back, the little warm body melting into her chest.

"It doesn't even have to be something bad. She could be re-creating a game of tag. Instead of one of her schoolmates chasing her, it could be something totally different. Which is probably where her over active imagination comes in."

"Huh," Kate hummed. "So what do we do about this?"

"Well," Castle sighed, pulling up a webpage on his iPhone. He leaned over so Kate can see the screen. "It says here that we basically just keep doing what we're doing; Go to her as soon as we can when we hear her panicking, reassure her that everything is okay..." He pauses. "Oh. '_Don't _let them sleep with you'. Oops."

Ryleigh wiggled against Kate's chest, leaning her head up to look at her mother.

"Mommy, I seep wif you t'night?" She whispered sleepily into Kate's neck.

Kate opened her mouth to say something, probably 'no', but Castle cut her off. "Yeah, little one. You can sleep with mommy and daddy tonight."

"_Castle_!" Kate admonishes, slapping his chest. Castle took his daughter from his wife's arms and whisked her away to their bedroom.

Kate sat on the couch, pressing her finger tips into her temples. After a minute, she stood up sighing.

"He's _so _grounded."

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who favorited/reviewed/alerted. I appreciate it a lot. :')**

**Twitter:** kateofthecastle


	3. Chapter 3

The morning sun streamed through the bedroom, scurrying the darkness away. Kate woke up to a warm body pressed flushed against her. Cracking an eye open, she looked down to see that her daughter had somehow managed to turn herself around during the night. Kate had tossed the covers off of her at some point, and Ryleigh's head was at her knee and she had one armed looped over her mother's thigh, her knees resting against her mother's ribs. Scanning the room, which now had a dull orange-y glow to it, Kate's eyes fell on the clock on her side of the bed. 7:30 AM. She closed her eyes in thought, debating on whether she wanted to get up or not, but with the warm little body cozied up to her and the soft snore of her husband, it was hard to think of doing anything else rather than lying in bed with them. So she opted to do so. She shifted her leg a little to turn onto her side. Ryleigh stirred a little, smacked her lips in her sleep, and continued to hang on to Kate's leg.

Kate shifted her eyes to Castle, who was on his stomach with an arm folded underneath his pillow. He was facing her with his mouth open a little, and his other arm dangling off the bed. Smiling at the sight, Kate closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

At 8:04 AM, Kate's eyes opened to see Ryleigh's shinning green eyes right in front of her own. She tossed an arm around her daughter and pulled her in close, and the little girl burrowed into her mother, tucking her head underneath Kate's chin.

"Did you sleep okay?" Kate whispered into her ear. Ryleigh shook her head 'yes'.

"No more nightmares?"

Ryleigh pulled away a little, used her little hand to shove back the hair that was in her face. "Monsters."

"Monsters?" Kate questioned, knitting her eyebrows together. "What kind of monsters?"

"Dunno. Scary."

"They're not real, baby. They can't hurt you. It's just pictures in your head that your brain makes up. No such thing as monsters."

"No real?

"No, babe. No real. I promise."

Ryleigh sighed and scooted closer to Kate, rubbing her nose against her chest. Kate snuggled her daughter a little longer, thinking about possibly falling back asleep for a little while, but with the little one in her belly suddenly flipping around, it was going to be hard to do.

"Alright, little man. I hear you." She said, running her hand along her swollen belly.

Ryleigh's eyes bugged. "Baby ta'k?" She sat up and lifted up Kate's shirt and put her ear to her stomach.

Kate tried to hold back a laugh as she explained to her daughter that she couldn't actually hear him.

Ryleigh sat up, her eyebrows knitted together in a look of confusion as she stared at her mother.

"Your brother won't be able to talk for a really long time. He's just moving around, getting his morning stretches in. Which means, I should get up and start my day."

"Me too!" Ryleigh shrieked as she climbed over her mother's legs and shimmied her way down to the floor before taking off out of their bedroom. Kate flinched and looked over at Castle to see if he had woken up. He was still zonked out.

Kate then turned to watch her daughter wobble-run out of the room, grinning to herself. She was definitely a Castle.

Speaking of...

She leaned over and shoved Castle's shoulder. "Babe, get up."

Nothing.

"Castle."

Still nothing.

"RICK."

Castle's head shot up off the pillow, his hair sticking up in the front, some of it falling in his eyes and he had indentations on his face from the pillow, showing just how hard he had slept.

"Yeah, what, what's going on, I'm 'wake." He slurred, slowly lowering his head back to the pillow, eyes closing along the way.

"Castle, it's almost nine. Get up, lazy bones."

He groaned into his pillow. "Don't wanna."

"Okay, fine."

She climbed out of bed in search for her suspiciously quiet daughter.

"Leigh?"

A little blonde head popped up from behind the coffee table where her box of toys were.

"Wanna wake daddy up?"

The little girl nodded her head fiercely and took off running back to her parents bedroom. Kate trailed behind her, hoisting her up on the bed once she reached it.

Castle took refuge under the giant comforter, submerging himself fully underneath it once he heard little feet heading for the room.

Once Ryleigh hit the bed, she started shrieking and bouncing, using Castle's shoulder for leverage.

"Dada, up! Dadda, dadda, daaaaddddaaaa!"

Castle sat up and flung the covers off of him before taking his daughter in his arms and knocking her off her feet, tickling her as she thrashed around laughing loudly.

"Mommy!" Ryleigh yelped, trying to get away from her father's tickling embrace. She got away long enough to start crawling towards the end of the bed where Kate stood with her arms out, but just as she thought she was out of Castle's reach, he grabbed her by her ankle and dragged her back to him. As her little body slid across the bed, she kept one hand out still trying to reach for Kate, which made her laugh. So dramatic. Most definitely a Castle.

"Mommy can't save you!" Castle cackled, pulling her underneath the covers with him. He started blowing raspberries everywhere he could, and she shrieked with laughter, kicking the blanket as she tried to get away.

Kate continued to stand at the end of the bed laughing as she watched the lump underneath the covers come for her. Ryleigh popped her head out and immediately reached for Kate who took her into her arms. Her face was hot and she was gasping for air, but she continued to grin, eyeing her father to make sure he wasn't going to come for her.

Castle emerged from the blanket as well, his hair more messed up than before, and he too was red-face and panting.

"Okay, okay. Play times over. Breakfast and then daddy has to get to work."

Castle looked at Ryleigh. "Mommy always takes all the fun away." To which Ryleigh replied with an emphasized, and a little too mature, "_mmhhmm_!"

Kate rolled her eyes as she walked over to Castle, giving him a kiss. "Well, someone's gotta be the adult around here."

"Glad it's you and not me."

"I bet you are."

Castle leaned in to give her another kiss before Kate stood up, Ryleigh still in her arms, her head resting on her shoulder. As Kate went to walk away, he grabbed her arm and lightly and pulled her back to him. He held out his arms and Ryleigh happily went into them, clinging to his chest. "Give mommy a break, hmm?"

Kate ran her hand through her daughter's short hair. "I need to go cook breakfast anyway. And you have a book to write."

"Ew, yeah. Don't remind me."

"Well someone has to, you have a deadline coming up."

"Again. Don't remind me."

He sat Ryleigh down, and she took off for the kitchen as soon as her feet hit the floor, and he collapsed backwards on the bed.

Kate leaned against the mattress, bending over to kiss him on the forehead. "Get up, shower, and go write. I'll bring breakfast to you."

He looked up at her smiling. "You're the best."

"I know." She grinned, sticking her tongue out at him before turning to exit the room.

* * *

**Twitter:** kateofthecastle


	4. Chapter 4

As Kate walked out of the bedroom, she saw Ryleigh running around the couch, shrieks of laughter and intense giggling filling the room immediately. The second she saw her mother, she pushed off the couch and took off for Kate, coming up behind her and sticking her head between her legs. She grabbed ahold of Kate's knees and propelled her mother towards the kitchen, Ryleigh laughing madly as she did so.

"You've got way too much energy this morning, kid."

Kate stepped over her daughter and headed for the fridge where she took out everything she needed for breakfast (eggs, bacon _and_ sausage because Castle can never decide between the two). Ryleigh reattached herself to Kate's legs, moving around the kitchen with her mother, babbling happily, asking small questions here and there.

"Hey, chipmunk. Do you want eggs like daddy or cereal?"

"Ooh, eggs! EGGS!" Ryleigh yelled, bouncing around Kate's legs.

Kate laughed. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Dadda egg?"

"Yes, your father is an egg."

Ryleigh giggled. "Daddy a egg."

Kate huffed out a small laugh.

"Okay, let's go tell egg-daddy breakfast is done."

Ryleigh looped her arms around Kate's legs tighter and pushed her towards Castle's study. Hearing the door handle jiggle, Castle looked up and cocked and eyebrow at the sight of his youngest daughter and wife.

"I think this is her equivalent of giving me a piggy back ride." Kate told him, shuffling her feet towards his desk, Ryleigh mimicking her.

"Daddy you a egg!"

Ryleigh then abandoned her mother to leap into her father's lap. Castle nestled her close, jostling her shoulders as he pinned her against his chest. "Oh, I'm an egg, huh?" He started spinning her around in his office chair, Ryleigh clinging onto Castle for dear life, giggling madly. After a couple of rounds, he stopped directly in front of Kate. His eyes rolled around his skull for a moment, trying to get his equilibrium back on track.

"You both have too much energy this morning." Kate said, reaching out to grab her daughter's arm to stop her from stepping off the edge of the chair.

"Imagine when this one is born." Castle grinned, palming Kate's belly. "Then it's gunna be a party!"

She chuckled. "I don't need to imagine. He's energetic enough as it is. He's already bouncing around in there."

Ryleigh stood up on Castle's chair, in between his legs, and used one hand to grip his shoulder for balance, and the other hand rested by his hand on Kate's stomach.

"Baby?"

"Feel him?" Kate asked, adding her hand to the mix now. Ryleigh felt the light flutters underneath her hand and pulled back looking horrified.

Kate pursed her lips together to hold back a laugh. Castle took Ryleigh's hand in his own and put it back on Kate's stomach. "It's just your brother moving around. He's saying hi."

Ryleigh looked skeptically up at her mother. "He's also saying 'let's go eat breakfast before it gets cold!'".

"I thought you were bringing breakfast to me?" He asked with puppy dog eyes and a frown, smoothing his hand over Kate's belly.

"I was. And then I remembered the last time I brought you breakfast while you were working." She quirked an eyebrow up at him, a small grin etching on her face.

"And?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Remind me."

She laughed. "Long story short: You got frustrated and ended up accidentally flinging food everywhere, almost ruining your laptop."

"Oh, right." He said. He cracked a grin of his own at her and she playfully shoved his face away with her hand , her tongue peeking out from in between her teeth.

Ryleigh, who was sitting contently in Castle's lap quietly volleying her eyes between her parents, jumped off of Castle's lap and banshee screamed her way to the kitchen. He continued to rub Kate's belly, laughing at his wild daughter. He added his other hand, bracketing her bump with both hands, his palms and fingers splayed out as if he were gripping a basket ball . "He's really going at it."

"Tell me about it."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, Castle." She smiled at him, resting her hands on top of his.

"I know," He sighed. "Doesn't stop me from worrying. I remember when you were pregnant with Leigh. You hit your second trimester and you couldn't even walk up the stairs without being winded, or get out of bed because your back was hurting too much, or-"

She stepped in between his legs, ran her fingers through his hair and then clasped her hands around his neck. "I know, I remember. I'm good, Castle. Really. He's just starting to move around more is all. All pregnancies are different."

He kissed her stomach before standing up and kissing her lightly on the mouth. "I know. Let's just hope this one isn't anything like the last one. You were mean."

She slapped his shoulder. "I was not!"

"See! The meanness is already taking a hold of you!"

"Oh, I'll show you mean."

"Oooh, you promise?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

She slapped his shoulder again, smirking. "Perv."

"_See_? Mean!"

She rolled her eyes, using his chest to push herself away from him. "Let's go find our daughter before she tries to climb the counter and make her own plate."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Kate whirled around. "_What?_"

Castle scurried past her, scooping up Ryleigh - who was headed back to her parents, more than likely to sternly remind them that breakfast was getting cold -

"We gotta move, peanut! Mean Mommy is coming!"

Ryleigh squeaked, holding on to Castle as he ran with her into the kitchen.

* * *

**Twitter:** kateofthecastle


End file.
